In the past, flowable materials have often been stored in individual packets that consist of two flexible foil sheets secured together about their periphery to define a cavity between the sheets. The cavity is filled with whatever material is being stored. Such packets find widespread use for storing food condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and other liquid or semi-liquid foods. When it is time to access the contents of the packet, the user simply tears off a corner portion of the foil material and squeezes out the contents. The use of such packets as storage vessels, however, has suffered from a number of disadvantages. Often times the user of such a packet ends up spilling the contents of the packet onto their fingers. Alternatively, the contents may end up dribbling down the side of the packet. This presents the user with the undesirable options of having to either scrape the contents off the packet onto the intended object, or discard the packet with a substantial amount of the contents being left unused on the packet itself.
Other disadvantages of prior art packets include the difficulty of applying the contents of the packet precisely to a desired location. For example, when a person opens up a conventional ketchup packet, it is difficult to predict exactly where the ketchup may squirt out of the packet upon compression of the packet. This, of course, can lead to ketchup being applied to undesired objects. The user of condiment packages is also problematic because there are typically no structures on the packet that define the size of the outlet that is created when the user tears off a corner of the packet. In some instances the user might only tear off a small corner, creating a very small outlet. This can cause the user to have to squeeze the container excessively to expel the contents, as well as causing the contents to squirt out of the packet a considerable distance. In other instances, an excessively large portion of the packet may be torn off, creating a large outlet orifice. This can lead to the contents immediately exiting the packet during the tearing off process, which typically causes the contents to spill onto the user's hands.
In addition to the conventional packets used to store condiments, a wide variety of other types of containers have been used in the past to store other types of flowable materials. Many of these other types of containers have suffered from other disadvantages. For example, a large number of containers for flowable material are made from molded plastic and the cost of the container can be a significant component of the overall cost of the product. In fact, in some cases, the container may cost as much as or more than the contents in the container. This not only causes increased costs to the consumer of the product, but can also lead the manufacturer to limit the marketing of their product to container sizes that may be too large for many situations in which their product is used.
As but one example, automotive brake fluid is often sold in containers that hold about eleven ounces or more of fluid. In certain situations, however, such as where brake fluid is being bled off to remove any air bubbles in the brake system, a person may only need to use about three to four ounces of brake fluid. Selling a container of three or four ounces of brake fluid, however, may not be economical to the manufacturer of the brake fluid, because the cost of the container may be so high as to not allow the manufacturer to sell the three to four ounce container for any meaningfully less amount of money than what the eleven to twelve ounce container is sold for. A consumer confronted with a three ounce container that costs pretty much the same as a twelve ounce container would undoubtedly tend to choose the large container for purchase. The smaller containers would therefore not likely be purchased, and the consumer may end up with more product than is necessary for his or her task. This can lead to wasting of the product, or messy attempts to save the unused contents in the container for later use. For some products, such as brake fluid, the contents may degrade over time if exposed to air, and an unwary consumer might end up putting degraded brake fluid into their automotive system. The economic difficulties of prior containers therefore can lead to a variety of different problems and disadvantages. The desire for a container that overcomes or alleviates such disadvantages can be seen.
Also, quick drying adhesives, such as Super Glue, Krazy® Glue or the like, which often contain ethyl (or methyl) cyanoacrylate or the like, are often moisture curing adhesives and, thus, bond rapidly in the presence of moisture, such as when dispensed from a sealed container onto an item exposed to the environment. Sometimes, anaerobic adhesives (which cure in the absence of air) or other solvents and air-curing compounds may also be used as quick setting or quick drying adhesives. Such quick drying adhesives may cure once dispensed from their sealed container and thus work almost the opposite of other types of air-curing adhesives, such as solvent-based adhesives and epoxy adhesives that involve two components to activate the curing process. Such quick drying adhesives are typically provided in containers having a screw cap at a dispensing end of the container. The containers are intended for multiples uses and the screw cap is intended to reseal the containers after each use. However, the quick drying capability of such adhesives results in various problems in providing a tube of adhesive that may be used multiple times because the screw-on cap that is typically provided with such tubes of adhesive bonds to the tube after a single use or application. Various bond-breaking devices have been developed to facilitate multiple uses of the multiple application tubes that often contain four to eight grams of adhesive.
Because the glue containers often result in only a single use, multiple containers are often sold in a package. The multiple containers are separate dispensers, each with a screw cap or the like for attempting to seal the container after the first use. It is known to make very small, single use tubes of such glue or adhesive. Some manufacturers have developed “single” use tubes in the 0.3 to 0.5 gram range so that the small tubes can be disposed of after use, without any re-capping and sealing problems. However, the single use tubes are substantially similar in design and appearance and overall structure to the multi-use tubes and each include a plastic or metal tube, a label and a cap. The dispensing end of the single use tubes may be removed to access and pierce a foil cap or end portion of the container, whereby the dispensing tip may be reattached or screwed onto the container for dispensing adhesive therefrom. After a single use, the container may be discarded or thrown away.
During manufacture of such single use tubes, each tube undergoes a separate filling operation to fill the tube with adhesive, and then several tubes are packed into a box and/or plastic bubble which is attached to a cardboard display card with a hang-up hole or the like, graphics, UPC code and any appropriate information and/or warning labels. Although the single use tubes reduce the amount of waste of the adhesive that is typically encountered with the multiple use tubes, the single use tubes individually may cost about fifty percent as much to manufacture as the multiple use tubes (because they are similar in design to the multiple use tubes) while providing only about ten percent of the adhesive content. Also, it is difficult to provide the required warning labels and product information that is typically required for the quick drying adhesives on the outer surface of the separate small tubes.
Additionally, the smaller single use tubes may require special packaging to hold two or more of the single use tubes for sale to the customer and for storage at the customer's home. For example, it is known to provide a plastic hinged box that may contain four tubes, whereby each of the tubes is snapped into corresponding projections formed in at least one side of the plastic hinged box. While such a device provides a convenient storage container, the costs associated with manufacturing such a container substantially limit the practicality of the tubes. Because the small tubes and packages may cost as much as the larger, multiple use tubes, there is little advantage to the consumer in purchasing the smaller tubes.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for product containers and dispensers which overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.